Well who is Gunns. Nuke is worst case. I think Chem / Bio would depend on if it were regional, and the extent of spread, but you can never be truly "ready" for those unless you own one of those rich people bunkers like in that other thread. I bet you are more ready then you think. Its mostly mindset and skill after the basics anyway.

I can't help but think God is up there right now saying "its time to shake the ol' Etch-A-Sketch and restart humanity again".

I think there is great opportunity still out there. 50 years ago many looked to succeed by landing a high paying factory job with generous benefits and a pension plan. Due to various reasons, that is a more and more rare opportunity today. I think that the opportunities nowadays favor creative thinkers and risk takers. There is also a great chance of failure for new business startups. I like Ron Paul, but he has been predicting financial collapse for 25 years or more if memory serves me right. Eventually the prediction will come true, but being prepared should include surviving and thriving in prosperous or normal times as well as during depressions. Although Trump railed against Goldman Sachs during the primary, he appointed five or so former or current GS employees to his cabinet. The banksters are always successful in grabbing control of the ship of state, and they are certainly looking out for the interest of the super wealthy. The US economy today stands on the ability of borrowers to repay debt. There are still many hardworking and responsible individuals and businesses who are a solid bet to pay off mortgages and small business loans. However, there are overzealous lenders such as auto finance corporations, furniture companies, the government with its Student loans, and many more. Many of these loans will never be paid off. I believe the credit worthiness of our nation as a whole is gradually declining. Eventually it will reach another crisis event like 2008. Remember this motto "Privatize the profits, socialize the losses". This will again be the method of resolving any future financial crisis. In light of this fact, I believe that it is wise to work toward owning assets that can produce revenue and income in good times, and will still be needed during a time of crisis. On another forum that I read, a man inherited GM corporate bonds from his parent's estate. Years ago, those bonds were thought of as one of the most rock solid investments available. In 2008 with the GM bankruptcy, corporate bondholders were repaid in full, but individual bondholders either lost all or a significant percentage of the value. This is what will eventually have to happen with 401k's, and bank deposits in excess of a certain amount. It is probably a mistake to plan on a collapse happening in the immediate future. I have two friends who made major financial/family wellbeing mistakes by planning on an immediate collapse.

RayMac1963 wrote:Well who is Gunns. Nuke is worst case. I think Chem / Bio would depend on if it were regional, and the extent of spread, but you can never be truly "ready" for those unless you own one of those rich people bunkers like in that other thread. I bet you are more ready then you think. Its mostly mindset and skill after the basics anyway.

I agree, places like Detroit should survive a disaster - provided they even noticed it happened.

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People rarely notice what it right in front of their eyes. The Da Vinci Code

tidewaterva wrote:The US economy today stands on the ability of borrowers to repay debt.

I appreciate you sharing your thoughts Tidewater - and you have obviously given it a lot of thought. I thought this statement really stood out.

I would add that we have to keep the money moving. My folks managed to foresee and avoid losing their retirement last round. Their reaction was to stop using credit cards, which they have always paid in full each month, and to shift assets out of banks as much as possible.

While I respected their fears I lobbied hard for them to continue to participate! Loss of confidence could shut it all down fast. As business owners we try to spread our risk but we choose to participate in credit and banking. We keep it as local as we can.

The Federal Reserve and Government can print as many dollars as they desire to achieve their agendas. If the dollar lost value, it may not matter that you can pay your obligations in dollars! Ask the people of Venezuela, of their experience in holding their assets in their currency! That is the risk Ron Paul and others have been warning about.

Any rational person should already know, that America (and every developed nation) has more debt than they can ever repay! They are left with the choice of continuing the lie or loosing everything right now! Like death, most people would choose to delay it. Swamp

Never Forget - “The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.”.

People rarely notice what it right in front of their eyes. The Da Vinci Code

daaswampman wrote:The Federal Reserve and Government can print as many dollars as they desire to achieve their agendas. If the dollar lost value, it may not matter that you can pay your obligations in dollars! Ask the people of Venezuela, of their experience in holding their assets in their currency! That is the risk Ron Paul and others have been warning about.

Any rational person should already know, that America (and every developed nation) has more debt than they can ever repay! They are left with the choice of continuing the lie or loosing everything right now! Like death, most people would choose to delay it. Swamp

Never Forget - “The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.”.

Yup. It's kind of like a train wreck. I can't quite bring myself to look away and I keep hoping it will be ok although it is so obvious that it cannot possibly be ok...

daaswampman wrote:The Federal Reserve and Government can print as many dollars as they desire to achieve their agendas. If the dollar lost value, it may not matter that you can pay your obligations in dollars! Ask the people of Venezuela, of their experience in holding their assets in their currency! That is the risk Ron Paul and others have been warning about.

Any rational person should already know, that America (and every developed nation) has more debt than they can ever repay! They are left with the choice of continuing the lie or loosing everything right now! Like death, most people would choose to delay it. Swamp

Never Forget - “The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.”.

Yup. It's kind of like a train wreck. I can't quite bring myself to look away and I keep hoping it will be ok although it is so obvious that it cannot possibly be ok...

Totally agree, just some BASIC finance courses http://courses.corporatefinanceinstitute.com/collections and knowledge would lead anyone to understand exactly what you're talking about... if you read the US budget like the income statement and balance sheet for a normal business, you would never invest as that business as it's clear the debt can never be services.

donba wrote:It's like I tell the Boss Lady, You can Only do what you can do. The rest is in Gods hands......

This

I have to keep this in mind, or I could go crazy. The rabbit holes are everywhere! Yet, I could die in a car crash tomorrow. Ya gotta have a life today, even if you are planning for the future. Having a healthy balance is the key.....and it's hard to do. Especially when you hear and see the reasons to prep continually all around you. I try to have fun with the gardening, canning, cutting wood, etc. There's more than one reason to do these things.....but if you take joy in it as you go along, then you are truly living life. In the end, isn't that really what it's all about? Personally, I'm much more concerned about quality of life as opposed to quantity of life. Although, I'm hoping for a healthy combo of the two.